What editor do you use?
by Alex Alexzander
on
Nov 24, 2005 at 7:13:42 pm
I may be doing a few tutorials showing off DVDit 6.1 / eDVD 4 in the near future. Could I get a show of hands on what editor is most commonly used by the DVDit users here?.
1. Avid Xpress DV
2. Avid Xpress Pro HD
3. Avid Media Composer
4. Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5
5. Edius
6. Vegas Video
7. Avid Liquid Edition 6.1 / 7.0
Also, please answer these following questions:
Do you most commonly create motion menus, and external subpicture, or do you use the built in templates to generate your menus, and why?
Do you use external encoders to prep your assets, and if so, which encoder do you use?
1. CinemaCraft Basic
2. Pegasys TMPGEnc Xpress 3
3. Sorenson Squeeze Lite
4. Sorenson Squeeze Professional
5. Other (please detail)
Please rate your knowlegde or experience, with Sonic eDVD:
1. I have used eDVD before, and plan to use it again.
2. I have never used it, but plan to.
3. I have no idea what Sonic eDVD is. Does it taste like chicken?
4. I have no need for Sonic eDVD.
eDVD - interactive player performs unwanted online activities by Chris_Germany on Nov 30, 2005 at 7:27:52 am
Hi folks,
I am glad to finally find a forum where Dvdit is discussed. I own it since Release 5 and I really appreciate the user interface and the functionality.
What I really hate are the error messages (if they occur). It looks like this is the tribute we have to pay of a a software design where frontend and backend are cleary seperated (which is good). But you guys from sonic have to admit that the error messages are way to cryptic to describe whats going wrong in the perspective of the end user.
To address the questions:
Editor:
I use Premiere Pro 1.5 with the MainConcept Plugin for Editing and encoding.
eDvD:
To be honest I have very mixed feelings about eDvD.
It is really fascinating to be able to enhance a DvD with Links and PC-Documents. Unfortunately most of the PC based DvD Players do not recognize the enhanced features.
So eDvD is relying on the InterActual PCFriendly Player which has to be installed on the target machine to get access to the enhanced content.
If you browse the web you will find lots of complaints about this player to do way more than giving you access to enhanced DvD Content. With default settings the player connects to the internet and transmits statistical data.
I just feel uneasy to produce a DvD and have to tell all viewers to ensure that the settings of this player have first to be adjusted not to go online.
Some guys even consider this software to be spyware.
To Scott: I would feel much better if there were a setting within eDvD to ensure that the player installs itself in a pure offline mode on the tatget machines.
Re: eDVD - interactive player performs unwanted online activities by SS Scott on Nov 30, 2005 at 7:44:02 pm
Chris,
Couple of things on this:
1) we have licensed the IA API to WinDVD and PowerDVD for inclusion in there players, so, although it is currently only incuded in upgrade versions, many people view InterActual content in those applications.
2) InterActual Player has evolved over the years. It used to collect a lot of information about disc usage and send it to a log file for analysis (what features would some anonymous user use on a given disc, how many times and how long would they use it). The grand plan was to provide the studios with meaningful information on features so they could know which ones people liked and could develop more features like those. Frankly, it turned out that we never analyzed or used that information and that data collection was subsequently turned off. The registration screen that used to pop up on install is also gone. Currently, IA Player sends off an update request that sends us information on the player version (so we can get people updated versions of the player) a disc identifier (so we can see how many times a specific title is used - and send off notices of updated content patches if something in the on disc code gets broken) and an anonymous user ID (so we can see how many unique anonymous users have installed the player and have watched specific discs).
So, if you install InterActual Player off of an eDVD 4 disc, we will see that user number x54z789ghqr65 has installed InterActual Player 2.6 and has watched an eDVD disc (which eDVD disc? we don't know, we just know it is generically an eDVD disc). That's pretty much the extent of it...
Re: What editor do you use? by Tim Wright on Dec 21, 2005 at 3:53:15 am
I should add that DVDit PE does something to my mpeg files and or avi files that make the videos look like crap.
When I go with straight mpeg2 files to dvd with no menues using Procoder the videos are crystal clear.
I have vowed to never give Sonic another dime, but I like the fact that I have the possibility of adding other type files such as pdf's, power point, web links, etc.
Re: What editor do you use? by SS Scott on Dec 21, 2005 at 5:03:03 am
Tim, I am sorry you have had a poor experience. The product has come a long way between DVDit 2.5 and DVDit 6 Pro. I think you will find the latter to be a much better experience. Upgrade is here:
It's $199 which, if you were going to buy it separately, is the price of the eDVD 4 DVD enhancement component alone. So, if you were looking to add web links, PDFs and other computer files to your DVDs, you will in essence be getting the eDVD application and what I think you will find to be a very powerful free authoring app.
Beyond that, I am here to answer your questions on the new software should you have any.
Re: What editor do you use? by Tim Wright on Dec 23, 2005 at 2:49:01 am
Thank you for your offer.
I edit with Edius and encode with Procoder. I use to encode with the Canopus mpeg module for the RT.
In either case, the video quality has been outstanding until I run it through DVDitPE. I have yet to see quality video come out of DVDitPE.
I just ordered Adobe Encore and I will see how the video quality compares.
Even so, I would like to know why DVDit PE wants to re-encode MPeg2,or any form of mpeg2 formats, etc and trash the video quality.
I heard at one point, that if you simply dragged (drug) the video from windows explorer into the asset bin instead of import, then it would skip reencoding. Never worked for me.
I would also like to see the menus work as constructed, just once.
Until I can see a fix for these issues, I just cannot use PE for anything more than my kids home videos, if that.
If you know of fixes for these two issues I would be greatful. Just post them in this thread if you don't mind. I will check back.
